Akay's social commitment
Akay is a renowned name in the field of Indian Spice Industry. Our success story tells how we maintain a lasting strategic relationship with our stakeholders. In 1996 we started our chili processing plant in a small village in Haveri district of Karnataka State in India. During that time the village was very impoverished with alcoholism as the main problem and the families were struggling with poverty and finding it difficult to send their children to school. Akay decided to give employment to women only so that the compensation will go directly to their families.
- In 1997 we employed 100 women
- Encouraged women to send their children to school
- Supported local school to improve the infrastructure
- Encouraged technical education
- Helped many of them by providing opportunity to work with us
WHAT WE DID
Akay has proved that a small factory in a village could empower and transform the lives of many villagers. Our factory in Tadas village has now expanded with new extraction units too. Both Akay and Tadas village have benefited from the close association.
We are trying to replicate this success in the poorest regions of Cambodia, the South East Asian country. They have suffered for long from the war and famine and belong among the least developed and poorest countries. Cambodia has the highest burden of hunger and under nutrition. Activities undertaken by Akay in Cambodia include :
- Training more than 500 farmer families in cultivation
- Training farmers on water harvesting, efficient usage of locally available resources etc.
- Mechanizing the farming to increase speed and volume of farming.
- Training the agricultural students in association with University of Battambang, Cambodia.
- Agricultural spending led to higher rural income and increase in both farm and non-farm employment.
- Currently, Akay’s model farm in Cambodia employs about 200 farm workers
- During planting and harvesting season, the number of workers swells up to 400
- Built about 70Kms of road from main Battambang City to Asothe in Salmot District